Undated Will Admitted to Probate when Petitioners of Later Will Failed to Present Later or Alternative Will For Review To Meet Their Burden of Proof
In the estate law and estate litigation case of In Re Estate of Williams, PICS Case No. 14-1052 (C.P. Philadelphia, April 21, 2014), the Honorable John W. Herron ruled that where the register of wills admitted an undated will to probate raised the issue of whether an undated will was invalid where no later or alternative will is presented for review. Petition denied without prejudice until such time as a later will had been located and presented for review.
The grandchildren of decedent filed a petition to invalidate an undated will that had been probated, to compel production of decedent’s last will dated June 3, 1991 and to vacate the order of the register of wills that appointed Mary A. Shell, as Administratrix, C.T.A.
The undated will that was admitted to probate by the register’s decree dated Nov. 6, 2012 divided Williams’s estate, except for a piece of real property, equally among her children. Joseph Williams, the petitioners’ father was deceased. The undated will named the eldest child of Jonelle Williams, Samuel Thomas, as executor. According to petitioners, however, Samuel Thomas predeceased his mother. Therefore, letters of administration C.T.A. were granted to Mary Shell, the decedent’s daughter.
The petitioners attached a copy of the undated will to their petition, but did not attach a purported later will. They claimed generally that there was a “later” 1991 will based on the petition for grant of letters of administration that was filed with the register of wills by Mary Shell. This register of wills petition, however, contained conflicting information as to the identity of the will-or-wills presented for probate.
The real dispute in this case focused on the distribution of the assets in the decedent’s estate. At the hearing, Shell noted that she had been given conflicting legal opinions as to whether the decedent’s grandchildren were heirs.
Petitioners argued that the undated will was invalid because the 1991 will noted in the register’s petition for grant of probate was an “after discovered” will. More specifically, petitioners asserted: “Petitioners believe that Mrs. Shell fraudulently obtained administratrix, C.T.A., of the decedent’s estate by probating the undated will which had been superseded and nullified by the decedent’s last will believed to be dated June 3, 1991.” During the hearing, however, Shell testified convincingly that she had no knowledge of any 1991 will.
A party who asserts that she has found a later executed will or codicil has the burden of proving that such will was properly executed and that it was executed more recently than the will she is challenging. If the petitioner sustains this limited burden of proof, the orphans’ court is then required to remand the matter back to the register to determine whether this after-discovered will should be admitted to probate.
Under this narrow test, the petitioners had the initial burden of presenting the later will, codicil or writing that they contended should be admitted to probate. They did not come close to meeting their burden. The only testamentary document that the petitioners presented in support of their petition was the undated will that was admitted to probate. They surmised that there was a later will based on petition for grant of letters that was filed by Mary Shell with the register of wills that indicated there was a will dated June 6, 1991, as well as the undated will admitted to probate.
There was, therefore, nothing of record to support the petitioners’ dual claim that such a will existed and that it was later than the undated will admitted to probate. Petition to invalidate the undated denied without prejudice until such time as the petitioners could present for review a later will of codicil.
Reference: Digest of Recent Opinions, Pennsylvania Law Weekly, 37 P.L.W. 638 (July 8, 2014)
Filed Under: Estate Law: Undated Will; Burden of Proof with After Discovered Will
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